First period thoughts

No score at the end of the first period here in Newark. The Devils had three power-play chances, including a 5-on-3 for 1:37. Boyd Gordon and David Steckel did some good work to kill off the first half of the two-man advantage.

Some other thoughts:

SEE RELATED:

*Brent Johnson has been very sharp, stopping all 13 New Jersey shots. Bruce Boudreau was very happy with how he played in Boston as well (hmm, maybe tomorrow would be a good day to have a story on the guy in the paper). Johnson looked very much in control of things, especially on the PK.

*John Erskine was throwing his body around a lot, and made his physical presence known.

*Alexander Semin looked pretty good on the PK again, winning a couple of battles along the boards and clearing the puck. Alex Ovechkin was out there for a shift as well and put on another nice skating clinic to kill off some time.

*Sami Lepsito didn’t have his best period. He iced the puck a couple of times against the Devils trap and took the second penalty that led to the 5-on-3, a hook in the neutral zone that probably wasn’t necessary.